Zero
by Bonkers4Reid
Summary: One-shot about Reid in high school. Reid's teacher is letting the students pick their groups for a project. Where does the young genius fit in?  Inspired by something that happened to me. Read the author's notes!


__

__

_Hello FanFiction World! I know you're probably expecting a new chapter of "Something Better" but I can't get this out of my head. It's a totally random one-shot that just wouldn't leave me alone! I had a really horrible day yesterday and something that happened to me could totally have happened to Reid as a kid. I've never written a child-Reid fic, so bear with me! Thanks for reading! Please Review!_

_I don't own Criminal Minds! (But I want to!)_

* * *

"To be alone is to be different, to be different is to be alone." -Suzanne Gordon

_

* * *

_

Eleven year old Spencer Reid was sitting in his sophomore level English class, dreading the unfavorable results that could only come of the class picking partners.

His teacher, a kind older woman named Mrs. Neely, had assigned a group project of writing an essay on the various themes found in the works of Edgar Allan Poe. There were twenty-one students in her fourth hour class, perfect for seven groups of three. Mrs. Neely was going to let the kids pick their groups. She pulled seven names out of a basket at random: these students would be group leaders and they would get to pick who they wanted to work with.

"Robert G." called Mrs. Neely.

"I'll take D-Dog and Scotty."

"Okay, Damon and Scott it is." muttered the teacher as she wrote the names down.

'How predictable.' thought Reid. Robert, Damon, and Scott were some of the biggest jocks in the grade. But at least they weren't the type to pick on people like himself, these boys had sports scholarships to think about.

"Next is Ashley."

The blonde exchanged glances with her two best friends. "Stacy and Amanda."

After Mrs. Neely had written the girls' names down, she called another name. "Brad."

The class all laughed, the teacher had once again called Brett his older brother's name.

"Sorry, Brett. Why do I always do that? Who are you working with?"

"Katie and Allison."

Some of the students smirked; it was obvious Brett was trying to score "Brownie Points" by working with both his girlfriend and her best friend.

Mrs. Neely called another name, "Alex."

The quiet boy took a while to answer, obviously contemplating his options.

Reid was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to be picked. Granted only a few groups had been matched so far, but he didn't really get along with any of his classmates. There wasn't a single person in that room who'd willingly struck up a conversation with him. Maybe it was because they were intimidated by the much younger boy's brainpower. Maybe they just avoided him because he was a total nerd. But when Alex had been called, Spencer had felt a surge of hope swell within him. Alex kept largely to himself and Reid didn't think he had many friends either.

"Carlos and Joe." replied Alex.

Alex had picked two other often-overlooked students. Carlos was a new student this semester. And rumors swirled that Joe was a known pot-smoker who may or may not be the father of freshman Hannah Grant's unborn child.

'Seriously?' thought Reid. He was sure that if anyone were to pick him, it would have been either Carlos or Alex. Now Spencer was seriously doubting if he'd even be picked at all!

Mrs. Neely called another, "Erica."

"Jenna and Kim."

Erica was one of the most popular girls in the school. She had picked Jenna, a fellow cheerleader, and Kim, her co-art-club-president. Apparently when they had voted for art club president, the two best friends since birth had received the same number of votes. So instead of having a president and vice-president, the art teacher had named Erica and Kim co-presidents.

'Second to last group.' thought Reid. The eleven year old seriously doubted that he'd be picked at all now. 'You'd think someone would pick me just to get a good grade. But I guess these people would rather work with their friends than work with a little kid who should be in middle school.'

"Robert A." called Mrs. Neely.

"Uhhh…" he scanned the room. "John and Cassie."

The class clown had chosen John, the openly homosexual choir member with blue hair, and Cassie, the girl who talked to herself… out loud.

"Alright, last group then…" said the teacher as she looked up from the list. "Spencer Reid."

Reid looked around. Everyone had already been picked. He gulped nervously, "Mrs. Neely, there's no one else." His pre-pubescent voice squeaked.

"No, there's twenty-one students in this class, two are left."

Reid saw why now; there were two empty desks today. "Taylor and Mitch are absent today," he pointed out to his teacher.

"Oh, that's right!" exclaimed the woman as she remembered marking them in her book at the start of the period. "Well Spencer I guess Taylor and Mitch are your partners. You can start by yourself and when they're back tomorrow you can fill them in."

Reid nodded. There was a lump in his throat and he didn't dare speak.

Spencer wanted to cry. He hadn't been picked last, which would have been bad enough. No, he hadn't been picked at all. Completely avoided and abandoned.

He started working diligently to avoid drawing further attention to himself, and to try to get his mind off of it.

Finally the bell rang. Reid sped out of the room, struggling to both keep up his quick pace and carry his heavy text books. 'Thank God next hour is lunch.' He thought to himself. Spencer didn't eat lunch that day. Instead, he spent the time in a bathroom stall crying and then trying to regain his composure.

Dr. Spencer Reid woke with a start. He felt that the BAU jet was landing.

His dream came rushing back to him; he'd dreamed about the day in high school where he'd been completely rejected by an entire classroom of kids.

As Reid looked around at his co-workers he reflected, 'I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful family. I'm actually acknowledged and accepted here!'

* * *

_"I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present." -W. Somerset Maugham_

* * *

____

_I hope you enjoyed this!(Oh, by the way, it wasn't just a dream… it really happened to Reid, but his dream was the memory of it…) _

_OK, so now for my story… yesterday in geography class I didn't get picked at all for a project. I got paired w/ the two absentees. I of course didn't go cry in the bathroom, but that really put me in a crappy mood! I'd already woken up late and was late to first hour, so yeah…. STORY OF MY LIFE! lol_

_Anyway… please review! :) _


End file.
